Design of Phased Arrays of Series-Fed Patch Antennas with Reduced Number of the Controllers for 28-GHz mm-Wave Applications

Abstract

New modified 2 × 2 and 3 × 3 series-fed patch antenna arrays with beam-steering capability are designed and fabricated for 28-GHz millimeter-wave applications. In the designs, the patches are connected to each other continuously and in symmetric 2-D format using the high-impedance microstrip lines. In the first design, 3-D beam-scanning range of ± 25° and good radiation and impedance characteristics were attained by using only one phase shifter. In the second one, a new mechanism is introduced to reduce the number of the feed ports and the related phase shifters (from default number 2N to the reduced number N+1 in the serial feed (here N = 3) and then the cost, complexity, and size of the design. Here, good scanning performance of a range of ± 20°, acceptable sidelobe level, and gain of 15.6 dB are obtained. These features allow to use additional integrated circuits to improve the gain and performance. A comparison to the conventional array without modification is done. The measured and simulated results and discussions are presented.